Extreme Cold Era: Shelter Don't Keep Waste-Chapter 933 - 157: The Essence of Divinity
In Perfikot's exclusive laboratory within the Floating City, three divine cores float in a circular energy field, akin to live specimens pinned on a dissection table.
The fissured patterns on the surface of the Sekhmet statue breathe in and out with a sand-gold energy; the scarlet glow pulses like veins over the remains of a subordinate god; and the artificial Ancestral Spirit crafted by Perfikot flares with aurora-like cyan and blue light.
The alchemical matrix in the laboratory, along with various instruments, is analyzing the energy waves of the three entities and displaying them as graphs before Perfikot.
Perfikot continually adjusts her multi-function goggles, verifying and analyzing the data through different visual modes, and ultimately arrives at a conclusion that surprises her, yet seems perfectly natural.
Though the three subjects differ vastly, even to the point of being entirely distinct, their energy waveforms share the same essence—each possessing the characteristic traits of faith power.
This discovery causes her pupils to contract slightly—just like the comparative experiments between the Totem Pole of the Northern Territory and the divine remains obtained by Langton, where faith pulses turbulently beneath differing divine facades.
"Indeed, the essence of divinity is the condensation of faith power!" she mutters, the pen point piercing the parchment.
The models of the three comparative samples reconstruct before Perfikot: the prayers of fanatics, the shudders of blood sacrifice rituals, the collective subconscious of tribal bonfires...
Information emanating from the divine cores displays before Perfikot, depicting the essence of divinity and faith in great detail!
It also enables Perfikot to finally grasp the essence of the Divine!
Yet, as she seeks to delve further into understanding, a flood of whispers from countless followers suddenly erupts within her skull.
"Burn the innards of heretics," "Bestow eternal rain upon the desert," "Ancestral Spirit, please protect me."
Thousands upon thousands of pleas transform into a torrent of information, threatening to overwhelm her consciousness.
Cold sweat slides down her spine as she severs her connection with the three divine cores in the nick of time, just as cracks appear on the binding devices on her experiment table.
Evidently, the impact from the massive influx of information was not merely mental; its colossal energy also affected material reality.
Perfikot wipes away a nosebleed, her differently-colored eyes igniting with an even fiercer light.
She ultimately resorts to the power of the Jade Record, leveraging abilities such as analysis and omniscience granted by the Eye of Omniscience, allowing Perfikot to glimpse the essence of divinity, the Divine, and faith power.
Perfikot's fingers swiftly trace in the void, deconstructing the essence of divinity into six basic elements: belief collection, emotional resonance, will interference with reality...
As she completes the analysis of each element and records them one by one, dawn shines through the crystal dome, illuminating the formula-covered parchment.
Unbeknownst to her, a night has passed, and Perfikot faces a table filled with research findings.
These findings confirm the hypothesis she made seven years ago: the so-called divinity is merely the materialization of collective consciousness's supplications.
"Indeed!" Perfikot vigorously grips her experiment log, "The so-called Divine avatar is merely the topological structure of faith energy!"
After discovering this fact, a mad conception took shape in Perfikot's mind: if the Desert Tribe can use rituals to summon Sekhmet, why can't the Empire mass-produce "controlled divine weaponry"?
By artificially creating divine cores, summon divine avatars!
This insane and grand plan begins to take shape in Perfikot's mind.
As the Empire's most outstanding Alchemist, she fully understands that this plan will completely alter the relationship between humans and gods; if her experiment succeeds, humans will no longer worship gods, but rather harness them!
However, the core of summoning divine avatars still requires ample faith power—this is the most crucial part of the entire plan.
Perfikot stands in the central laboratory of the Floating City, before her floats fragments of the divine core she seized from the Sekhmet Temple.
These golden-glowing fragments, under the analysis of the Jade Record, are gradually revealing their essential constitution.
"So that's it!" she murmurs softly, fingertips caressing the statue before her, "Faith power is the raw material for shaping deities..."
After sorting out all the information, Perfikot launched a seemingly crazy plan in the Desert Kingdom.
She gathered a team of alchemists from the Floating City and displayed her research findings at a top-secret meeting.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" Her voice resonated in the circular meeting room, "We are going to accomplish something never attempted before—not to plead for the grace of gods but to create a deity with our own hands!"
That is, creating a belief artificially to attain faith power, thereby creating a new deity!
This concept is so bold it borders on absurdity, yet Perfikot convinced everyone with rigorous alchemical theories and divine analytic data.
She unfurls a parchment depicting a meticulous belief network diagram: "We need to establish a complete belief system in the Desert Kingdom, from doctrines, rituals to symbols; every detail must be meticulously designed."
A deity under the control of the Empire, under her control!
This ultimate goal causes the alchemists present to be both excited and terrified.
Perfikot calmly adds, "This New God will be entirely shaped according to our needs; its divine duty will focus on guarding the Empire's territory, and its teachings will promote loyalty to the Empire.
